Going Solo
by Misty's Double
Summary: Ash, Misty and Brock receive a less than pleasant surprise following a battle with Team Rocket. Following a stark admission by the Rockets, one of the group leaves to go it alone, on the run from the chasing Team Rocket, who want a debt repaid. AAML.
1. Prologue

This story is a rewrite of my first story- Misty's Journey, which can be found in my profile. This will explain some of the mysteries such as the location, the Pokémon, and so on.

The original was started back in 2002, and this remake is going to be in the same time period.

Disclaimer: I do not own the game or animé of Pokémon that this story was based off, nor do I own the Pokémon, the characters or any other copyrighted material present. This is my own work however, and this is my own story idea.

**Going Solo**

A Pokémon Fanfiction by _Misty's Double_

_Prologue_

A teenage boy sighed in defeat as his fallen Bayleef was engulfed by translucent red light; the grass type exhausted on the grassy ground dissipated into a blur of light which quickly disappeared back into the Pokéball in the boy's hand. A male stood in front of the boy- at least twenty years his senior, and the man clad in black trousers and a long sleeved, black top, laughed callously as the boy frowned.

"You can't have much left now, boy. Your friends clearly don't." He nodded in the direction of a girl and boy who were looking frantically through their Pokéballs, before exchanging panicked glances. The redheaded girl, fresh faced and looking no more than a year older than the boy, spoke up, her voice apologetic.

"I've nothing to use. Goldeen can't fight, and I _can't_ use Togepi."

"I'm spent;" The second boy said. His slightly more mature features had the same look of concern the girl was expressing as he continued. "If Forretress' Selfdestruct didn't do much, none of my other Pokémon stand a chance. I'm out, Ash." The boy- his name Ash- nodded at his two friends who stepped back from the makeshift arena between them and the man, stood alongside a woman, who was wearing a matching deeply coloured top, with a white mini skirt with white thigh boots.

"Pika, pika kachu pichu, chu!" The yellow coloured Pikachu perched on Ash's shoulder said. Ash nodded in understanding.

"You're right, it's up to you and me now. Pikachu, I choose you!"

"So the yellow rat's fighting? That took long enough." The woman said. Pikachu jumped down from his owner's shoulder and stood on all fours, growling, bearing teeth and emitting sparks in the direction of the towering Granbull, who was growling also. Within seconds, sparks flew as an ordered Thunderbolt attack was sent towards the Granbull, and following this commands were constantly barked by Ash and the man; the Pokémon obliging. The boy and girl with Ash were stood, looking on at the battle, both sharing the hope that Ash would prevail.

"…Just what does Team Rocket want from us? They're not even trying to steal Pikachu anymore, they're just making things hard for us now." The older boy said as the girl hugged Togepi close to her body. She replied, her voice distant.

"I don't know, Brock…" He turned to face her, gazing at her slightly worriedly as he noticed her expression matched her voice's distance. The juvenile egg Pokémon in her arms chirped, it's eyes closing happily.

"Misty, are you okay?"

"It's just these battles, they're starting to wear me down, that's all." She said softly.

"They're wearing us all down, especially since Jessie and James disappeared and were replaced by these two." Brock nodded his head towards the two their friend was battling, just as Granbull leapt at Pikachu, mouth agape as it went for a Bite attack.

"We just don't know when we'll be attacked again… remember when they stormed the Pokémon Centre in-"

"It's rude to talk about people while in their presence," The woman sneered, interrupting Brock and Misty. Her voice was one with depth… a sense of coldness to it.

"Weren't you told it was rude to interrupt too?" Misty retorted hastily.

"We're Team Rocket Special Agents Misty, we don't need manners." The woman replied simply. Misty stared at her.

"Just… how do you know my name?" She asked, clearly shocked. Ash turned to look briefly, frowning at the exchange between the two, before continuing with the battle. The woman just stood, smiling widely at Misty. "How do you know me? Just who are you?"

"Don't you remember me? I remember seeing you when you were so tall," She stopped to signal a height of about 3 feet with her hand, showing that she had clearly met her as a young child.

"I don't know any Team Rocket agents." Misty spat, hugging Togepi tightly. However unaffected Misty tried to make herself look, she couldn't help but look back at the woman… she stood, staring at her face, just trying to pick out an event in her head where she could have crossed paths with somebody who looked like she did- her looks were memorable, after all. Atop a tall and slender body was a face with a pale complexion, crowned with hair the colour of a Lapras. Her eyes were a deep blue, and both the hair and eyes accentuated each other well. Such features were hard to forget; yet Misty was in fact struggling to place a finger on when they may have met.

"But Misty, we used to get along so well. After all, it was I with my Horsea that sparked your interest in the water type." The woman continued.

"I grew up in Cerulean City Gym; how could I not be interested in water types?" Misty responded sharply. But then, something clicked.

We used to get along so well… My Horsea… 

Misty's stare gazed over, as she was lost in her own little world, and her mind took her back nine years.

_She was sat besides the pool, her feet submerged as she spoke with somebody beside her; the two throwing Pokémon food into the pool for the resident water types._

"_Do you have any Pokémon, Misty?" Said a deep, albeit feminine voice._

"_Not yet. Daddy said I have to wait until I'm ten, like my sisters did." Misty replied, looking into the water longingly. She then looked up to the person next to her and smiled. "It's okay though, I can play with all these Pokémon when I want!" The person smiled warmly at the young Misty, and pulled a red and white Pokéball out of her jacket pocket._

"_Well, what do you say to seeing my Horsea? Do you have any Horsea here?"_

Misty snapped back to reality. She _had_ met this woman before.

"Togi togi?" Togepi questioned it's trainer.

"Don't worry Togepi, I'm fine." She replied. The egg Pokémon wriggled about, gesturing that it wanted to get down, and failing to remember about the battle currently going on between Ash and the Team Rocket agents, Misty let the Pokémon down onto the ground.

"Why do I know you? You're part of Team Rocket… I've never had dealings with your people."

"Oh, so you've remembered who I am now? But, little girl, I'm surprised you don't remember _why_ we know each other… unless you're in denial that is." Again, the woman smirked, and Misty huffed, turning away from her, refusing to answer. Brock, who had been taking no part in this apart from being an innocent bystander, had taken to watching both this and the Pokémon battle. He noticed Misty looking in the direction of the duelling Pokémon.

"Pikachu's struggling; Granbull's just-"

"Togepi!" Misty cried as she noticed her baby Pokémon waddling towards Pikachu. She ran to catch up with it, and scooped it up into her arms just before Granbull made contact yet again with the electric mouse just feet away from them. "Don't wander away like that again!" Togepi wriggled about in her arms once again; it's face was one saying that it didn't want to be there.

"Pikachu can't win this…" Brock said in defeat, looking at how long it was taking Pikachu to recover from each attack.

"We're trying our hardest though!" Ash called, overhearing Brock's lack of confidence.

"…Can't beat his enthusiasm." Brock said quietly, so only Misty could hear. The female Rocket agent had since realised she wouldn't be getting a response for now, and was stood with the owner of the Granbull, looking on. Misty nodded.

"He needs to know when to give up though, Brock." She reasoned.

"But we don't know what they want. If we lose, they can take what they want… and we don't know what that is."

"You're right…" She sighed, before looking down at Togepi. "Togepi, stop wriggling. Pikachu can't play with you right now, it's too busy." A sad cry emitted from Togepi, as it stopped wriggling.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as the Granbull hurled his Pokémon into the air.

"Face it kid, you've lost this." Said the male Rocket agent nonchalantly.

"I'll never let you beat me! Thunder, Pikachu!" Ash shouted, pointing unnecessarily at the Granbull. As Pikachu hauled itself up from the floor and began to summon the thunderclouds, Misty, Brock and the second Rocket agent just looked on. As some rumbling could be heard from the clouds above, lumps of ice hurtled down towards the group, but only seemed to be going anywhere near Granbull. Before anybody could say "Freak April storm", the Granbull had been encased in a block of ice; his face one marked with shock. And the expression was mirrored by just about everybody.

"Oh." Misty uttered. Ash and Brock looked at her, before looking back at the Granbull.

"…What just happened?!" Shouted the male Rocket agent as the blizzard stopped, and the clouds above simply lost their menace.

"Somebody… something, just used Blizzard." His female counterpart commented.

"You didn't do that did you, buddy?" Ash asked as he leant down to pick up his injured Pokémon.

"Pika-chu. Chu kapichu pi pi, pika!" Pikachu replied. Misty and Brock exchanged glances, before looking at Ash; eyebrows raised.

"Pikachu didn't do it-"

"Well that's obvious Ash; no way can a Pikachu learn Blizzard." Misty said irritably.

"But Pikachu said it was Togepi who did it." Ash finished, ignoring Misty's remark.

"Togepi?" She repeated, looking down to the cradled Pokémon.

"Toge-pi!" It cried happily, waving it's hands about.

"A baby Pokémon, capable of pulling off an attack like that…" Ash commented.

"That's the wonders of Metronome," Brock responded. Misty was about to respond when somebody cleared their throat, and the three looked towards the Rocket agents. The male recalled his ice clad Granbull into it's Pokéball, and spoke up.

"You kids got lucky. We were about to beat your rat to a pulp." He said remorsefully. "Just wait until we attack you again, we-"

"Wait! Can we ask you a question seeing as though we beat you again?" Ash said, cutting the agent short.

"What do you wanna know, kid?" Asked the woman.

"Why are you following us around?" He asked the pair, who looked at each other before the woman responded.

"We want something from you." She said simply.

"Then what might that be?" Brock asked. Again, the two exchanged glances, but this time a smirk played upon both of their faces. They spoke in unison, pointing in Misty's direction.

"You." All three gasped, before Ash spoke up.

"What do you want Togepi for? It's just a baby! You'll have to get past me to get Togepi!"

"Shush boy… you seem to have misunderstood us." The man said calmly. "Of course we don't want the walking egg…"

"We want her." Finished the woman simply.

* * *

A/N Don't worry, if one or two things haven't been answered yet, they will be in due course. Again, reviews would be lovely. 


	2. 1: Escape

Author's Note: I will apologise in advance for the length of this chapter; it weighed in at over 5,200 words for the chapter itself, but I couldn't possibly cut anything out of it as all of this was necessary, considering the short prologue.

Anyway, enough of that. I would like to extend my thanks to all those who left a review last time, and I hope all who read this will tell me what they think. I personally respond to every review, so if you have a question you want answering, either sign in or leave an email address with your review.

**Going Solo**

A Pokémon Fanfiction by _Misty's Double_

_Chapter 1- Escape_

A few hours had passed since the encounter with Team Rocket. It was now mid evening- from the group's location on Route 45, the sun was setting behind the coniferous, alpine trees to the west. The location of their 'camp' for the night was idyllic, with the infamous Mount Silver set to the eastern horizon; it's western face lit up by the dimming sun in an orangey colour. The dense evergreen forest spread for miles to the west, and due to the angle of the sun long, triangular shadows were cast unto the ferns and long grass bordering the margins between the woodland and the shorter grass.

"Misty?" A voice spoke from behind the seated figure of the redheaded teenager. She was sat at the edge of a ledge, her long, uncovered legs dangling over the edge as she surveyed the view around her.

"Hm? Oh, hey Ash," She said, her voice unemotional and careless. Having instantly recognising the voice of her friend, she shifted the weight of her body from her numb behind to being shared with her two hands, now planted either side of her body.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he moved next to Misty and sat down besides her, looking southwards and taking in the view. She replied without even looking at him, instead her eyes were still gazing into the distance.

"Yeah, fine." She said, brushing off the advance. The boy turned his face to look at her, his features slightly concerned for his friend.

"Are you sure? You've been acting funny since we were attacked by Team Rocket earlier on…" He trailed off and looked away, back into the distance. "It's just not like you, that's all."

"…My, my. Ash Ketchum, developing people skills?" Misty questioned, smiling slightly. "Since when could you gauge people's feelings?" Ash spun his head around and glared at Misty, surprised at her words.

"I always have done!"

"…Have not." Misty smirked.

"I have… augh." He cut himself off abruptly in exasperation, before continuing in similar vein. "I show concern for my friend, and it gets bounced back like this? Some friend you are, Mist." Ash pouted, and moved to stand up and walk away, when she looked around.

"Wow, no need to be so touchy… I was just surprised you actually noticed, that was all." She reasoned. Ash quickly plonked himself back down, and avoided her gaze as he rubbed his neck.

"Well, ah… I uh, didn't notice." Ash stammered, before laughing nervously. "It was Pikachu who pointed it out to me, now you say it." He finished, closing his eyes and grinning goofily, unsure as to whether or not he would have a hand make contact with his face or not.

'Typical.' Misty thought as she rolled her eyes, a small smile still on her face as she kept her gaze fixed ahead, even though she began to eyes trained upon her.

"So…" Ash started as he realised she wasn't going to be assaulted. "Are you going to tell me what's eating you up inside?" Misty sighed. She knew she wasn't going to get away from this. Pikachu was helping Brock with making dinner, and although Ash loved his food, one thing he couldn't stand was cooking. Chances are this is his way of getting out of looking for firewood or anything else.

'Although… he _is_ showing genuine concern… is he?' She thought to herself.

"…Mist?" Ash asked, as she remained silent. She sighed again, and looked at him briefly, looking into his eyes, before darting her gaze away once again.

'He _is_ showing concern.' She thought; her inner voice surprised at this. She felt the apple of her cheeks heating up slightly, and inwardly groaned. 'Stop the blushing, right now. No reason for it _at all_… Okay, here goes.'

"Erm… what?" She found herself asking. Her thoughts had managed to push the whole point of the conversation out of her mind. Ash shook his head.

"I asked what was eating you up inside…" He reminded her, and instantly, she replied.

"Oh, yeah. Well… it's sort of difficult to explain." Which it was; her mind had kept on attacking her over the course of the last few hours with the female agent's voice being played over again and again, saying _"But Misty, we used to get along so well…"._ Whenever she tried to think of something else, the sound bite would play again, and her mind would trail off from what she was thinking about and onto what had happened for her to remember the woman.

"Alright…" Ash said after Misty had stayed silent for a few moments. "What was all that about, with the woman saying that they want you?" Ash asked curiously, cocking his head as he looked at Misty. The scene played out again in her head at the mention.

"_We want something from you." The female agent said with a smirk._

"_Then what might that be?" Brock asked haughtily. The agents exchanged glances, both smirking within seconds. _

"_You." They spoke in unison, pointing right at Misty. She looked to her friends and gasped, as did Ash and Brock. She hugged Togepi protectively as Ash spoke up defensively._

"_What do you want Togepi for? It's just a baby! You'll have to get past me to get Togepi!"_

"_Shush boy… you seem to have misunderstood us." The man said calmly. "Of course we don't want the walking egg…"_

"_We want her." Finished the woman simply._

"I… don't know." Misty said after the flashback had been pushed away. "It's really odd, how the female agent recognises me… remembers… _knows_ me, even. But I don't remember how or why… but the really odd thing is I'm beginning to recognise the other one from when I was younger." She said, looking away.

"But how do you know Rocket agents?" Ash questioned. "Your family have run the Cerulean City Gym for generations, right? They're always kept in the family…" He trailed off and studied Misty's features. She seemed to have cringed when he mentioned the running of the gym… it was as if he'd woken up something laying dormant in her. Wanting an answer- partly out of curiosity, and partly wanting reassurance not only of what he said, but his friend's stability, he spoke up softly. "…Right, Mist?"

'Oh God, it's all coming back…' Misty thought to herself, and bit her lip as a flood of memories washed back into her mind. She clenched her eyes shut as things came back in pieces.

"…Misty?" Ash asked worriedly. She shook her head after a few seconds.

"Only my grandparents and sisters have really run the Cerulean Gym…" She mentioned quietly, gazing forwards.

"So what did your parents do?" Ash questioned further.

"I… I don't know." Misty said, turning to look at Ash with tears in her eyes. She bit her lip again as Ash looked away, slightly unsure of how to react.

"But… why are they after you, Mist? Why do Team Rocket want you?" He asked. Misty looked down and shook her head.

"I really do not know Ash, but…" She said slowly, sighing in the pause. "I don't want to put you through this any longer." She closed her eyes and didn't see Ash's surprised face twist into one of confusion.

"What do you mean Mist? What are you talking about? You're making no sense…"

"No, I'm making sense." Misty cut in, before taking a deep breath and looking up to face Ash. "Team Rocket have made their intentions clear… they want me. The battles are bringing us all down too much, and it's going to damage your chances at the league in a few weeks, Ash."

"Mist…" Ash said, looking into her eyes. As soon as he realised what he was doing, he looked away.

"Food's up! Who's ready for Brock's special?" Brock shouted from further up their hill. The two sighed.

"Timing…" Ash mumbled, just as his stomach rumbled, as if hearing the invitation for the food.

'Saved by the Brock…' Misty thought, sighing as she twisted around so her feet made contact with the ground, instead of being dangled over a ledge. She then stood up from the dirt and began to walk over. As they did so, Pikachu bounded happily over to greet them, chattering away as it ran to Ash with Togepi waddling behind.

"Pikachu-pi pichu pi, pi?" Pikachu chirped enquiringly as it jumped into Ash's arms. It looked from his owner to Misty, who was leaning down to scoop Togepi up.

"She's okay, buddy." Ash replied as Misty straightened back up. She turned to Pikachu, who was now on Ash's shoulder and tickled him under the chin.

"I'm fine, Pikachu… thanks for sending Ash to make sure I was, though. We both know he wouldn't have done it himself." She winked, before giggling. Pikachu began to laugh, as Ash pouted.

"Hey… I wanted to know what was wrong, too! I care about my friends…"

"Are you two coming for your dinner?" Brock called impatiently. "You sure are taking your time!" Without a word, Ash ran the short distance between them and their camp, straight to Brock to take the bowl of stew he had just served. Misty, who was now walking in the same direction, shook her head.

"You clearly care about your stomach more, Ashy Boy…" She said as she took the second bowl from Brock, and thanked him. She sat down next to Ash on the ground beside the small camp fire Brock had cooked over, and before starting on her food, she took a rice ball out of her bag for Togepi to nibble on.

"So…" Ash said between mouthfuls as Brock joined them on the ground. "Were you saying you were… wanting to leave?" Misty spun around to glare at Ash, open mouthed, and as she was about to reply hastily, a cracking noise was heard as Brock dropped his bowl, sending his stew across the ground.

"…_What?!_" Brock exclaimed; his face clearly shocked as he stared in the direction of Ash. Misty looked to Brock, then back to Ash.

"It's not like that! I never even uttered those words, Ash!" She said angrily, her voice high pitched. Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder where he had perched, and stationed himself between the two, ready to mediate.

"But that's what you were going on to say… right, Mist?" Ash said, his tone not showing the defence that Misty (and Pikachu), was expecting. Nor was it the offhand tone he had used previously, but more of one showing concern. Misty didn't respond, instead she joined Brock in just staring at Ash in surprise. "…Guys, I'm not stupid. I figured what you were going to say, Misty…" He ended in a disappointed tone, as Brock turned to Misty.

"What's this about?" He asked, receiving a sigh and pause in response. She looked down into her stew, before looking at Brock, then Ash again.

"He's right…" She started slowly. "I said to Ash earlier that it's unfair putting the stress of these battles with those Team Rocket agents on you two… you don't deserve to be pulled down by the trouble they're causing, especially at this stage in the journey. Ash… you've got the most important battles of your life coming up soon, and you need to focus on those, not on protecting yourself, your friends and your Pokémon from some agents who hold a vendetta against me."

"A vendetta? Why are they chasing you, Misty?" Brock asked as he sat down in front of her, ignoring the mess of stew and broken crockery beside them. Misty looked away sadly as Ash spoke up for her.

"She doesn't know why they want her…" Ash paused, and turned to her.

'She knows exactly why…' Brock thought to himself as Ash continued.

"You just want them away from us, don't you?" At this, Misty merely nodded the head she was resting on the palm of her hand. Pikachu sidled up to Misty and patted her arm reassuringly, muttering in his own language.

"If you're going to stop travelling with us, what are you going to do instead?" Brock questioned.

"The best thing would be to go back to Cerulean and help in the gym… and we know my sisters need help with the gym." She replied, to which they all laughed a little. A slightly awkward silence engulfed the three, which was broken by Pikachu climbing onto Misty's lap, before looking up to her and asking a question.

"Chu Pikachu-pi, pika chu, pi pi chu?" Misty looked to Ash with a questioning expression.

"I… didn't quite understand that. What did he ask?"

"He wants to know when you're going to be leaving, right, buddy?" Ash replied, with Pikachu nodding in agreement.

"…Tomorrow would be best." She responded, following a pause. Ash nodded understandably.

"Well, as much as we don't want you to leave, the sooner you go, the better… for your safety." Brock commented, with Misty nodding in return. Again, a silence engulfed the group, which was broken this time by Ash speaking as he stood up. Not looking at either of the others, he spoke.

"We've had a tough day. Best rest up for tomorrow." He said distractedly. He walked over to where they had left their bags and unpacked his sleeping bag, then unrolled it on the other side of the fire and promptly got into it. Pikachu looked apologetically to Brock and Misty, before walking slowly to Ash's sleeping bag and curling up beside him.

"He's taking the prospect of you not being around badly, already…" Brock said quietly. Misty looked to Brock.

"He's just a friend, though… and besides, he still has you to support him." She replied.

"It's clear that he values you much more… You were going to be his rock during the league."

"If he values me more, why does he constantly disagree with me and disregard any offers of support?" She retorted, gazing into the fire.

"He cares about you, Misty." Brock replied bluntly.

"…That makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense, just think about it. He's just going about showing that he can do things himself to prove that he's strong enough… He's just…"

"He's just Ash." Misty finished for him. Brock nodded, before she picked up the now sleepy Togepi and cradled it in her arms. "He won't miss me too much, I'm only a friend."

"You're kidding yourself, Misty." At this, she turned back to look at Brock, her brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

"No, I don't. Come on Brock, answer properly." She sighed. Brock paused for a few moments, before answering.

"I'll leave you to think about it for yourself… I'm going to turn in for the night; if you want to get back to Cerulean soon, you'll need an early start." Misty nodded at the response, and stood with Brock. The two retrieved their sleeping bags and set them out either side of Ash. They then muttered "Night" to each other before climbing into their sleeping bags.

'Kidding myself… What am I kidding myself over?' Misty questioned in her head, as she tucked her baby Pokémon in with her. Lying on her back, she stared at the dark sky, the scattered stars twinkling brightly, trying to think of an answer. Stealing glances towards Ash every now and then, she did a double take when she thought she saw the twinkle of his dark eyes staring back at her. Alas, when she looked back again, his eyelids were firmly shut. As she looked back up to the stars and the crescent moon, she sighed. 'I know _exactly_ how I feel about Ash… I'm not kidding myself with anything... There's nothing _to_ kid myself about.' She turned onto her side, facing Ash, and stared at his figure, watching the rise and fall of his chest and the sleeping bag move along with it. As she finally felt tiredness sweeping over her, she looked at Ash's face one more time, and whispered.

"I don't want to leave… I'm sorry."

---

_A loud exchange of words and various crashes downstairs had pulled Misty and her three sisters- Daisy, the eldest, Lily, the second eldest and Violet, the third eldest- from their playroom, whee they were playing with dolls of various Pokémon. A six year old Misty was stood beside her three sisters in the doorway to the kitchen where their mother had been cooking dinner, only to be met with the sight of their parents stood beside each other, with what seemed to be about a dozen men and women opposite. A heated exchange was in full flow between the two groups._

"_We don't owe you people a thing!" Shouted their father. "We left your organisation years ago; there's nothing to owe!"_

"_Once a Rocket, always a Rocket…" Said a lady stood in front of their father. Her hair set her aside from the rest- the blue colouring really was memorable. At this, their father growled, while their mother just sighed and turned away despairingly, only to be greeted by the presence of her four daughters in the doorway. She gasped and looked at them, surprised, before moving to usher them away._

"_Girls, now is not the time. Daisy, take--"_

"_Oh, we have spectators, do we?" The female Team Rocket member interrupted, peering over the mother's shoulder._

"_If you do anything to them…" The father threatened, stepping back protectively. Ignoring the threat, the woman continued._

"…_This isn't the kind of scene young children should see." She paused and turned to her comrade, a dark haired male in similar clothing to herself. "You know what needs to be done. I'll keep these four out of harm's way." She then stepped forward and walked to the doorway, looking at each of the girls in turn._

"_Girls, don't do anything she tells you to if you think it's bad!" Their father called._

"_We love all of you!" Their mother then called after them as they walked away with the woman. After asking them what they wanted to do, the four girls led the woman into the main pool area, where the resident water Pokémon were swimming around. As Daisy, Lily and Violet called over their respective Pokémon, Misty sat down on the tiles and removed her socks and shoes, before dipping her feet into the water. The woman crouched down beside her._

"_Do you have any Pokémon, Misty?" She inquired. Misty, oblivious to the stranger knowing her name, conversed happily with the woman._

"_Not yet. Daddy said I have to wait until I'm ten, like my sisters did." Misty replied, looking into the water, watching the other water types longingly. She then looked up to the woman, smiling innocently. "It's okay though, I can play with all these Pokémon when I want!" The person smiled warmly at the young Misty, and pulled a red and white Pokéball out of her jacket pocket._

"_Well, what do you say to seeing my Horsea? Do you have any Horsea here?" Misty was about to answer, when Daisy approached the two._

"_What's happening to our parents? Why can't we be with them?" She demanded, looking warily at the woman. The woman looked unsurely at Daisy, staying silent for a few moments as she tried to formulate an answer._

"_I assume you are the eldest of the four… Daisy, was it?"_

"_Yes, but can you answer my question please?" Daisy replied, keeping her mind set on the main matter at hand._

"_Are you old enough to look after yourself and your sisters? It's just that your parents have been… quite bad." At that, the male counterpart to the blue haired woman entered the room hastily._

"_Jesus, you could have given me an idea of where you had gone. This place is like a maze. We've taken them." He said. Unsure of what was meant by 'them', the girls all turned to look at the tanned, dark haired man. He seemed very flustered, and had blood running from a gash on his temple. The woman then stood up straight and walked over to him._

"_Where are you going? Can I see the Horsea?" Misty asked, but the woman ignored her question. Daisy stood protectively in front of Misty._

"…_You, the oldest one," The man said rudely, beckoning Daisy. She walked over apprehensively._

"_What is it?" She asked impatiently._

"_You have a debt to pay. If you want to see your parents again, you will agree to the terms left for you in the kitchen." He said gruffly, before turning away from the shell-shocked Daisy._

"_Take care of your sisters." The woman muttered, and with that, the two departed quickly._

_--- _

Misty awoke early the next morning, having had a dream flashing back to the night where the recurring Team Rocket agents first entered her life. She rose to find the others still asleep, and decided against returning to sleep. She busied herself for a few moments by packing her sleeping bag and brushing her hair, before cleaning up the mess left from the night before. As she picked up the final piece of shattered crockery and placed it in a bag, she put it down with their belongings before walking to the end of the slope, where she was sat with Ash the previous evening. Looking at the location of the sun as she sat down, she assumed that it was still fairly early in the morning. She took in the landscape again as she breathed in the crisp morning air, filling her lungs with it, before exhaling it slowly. She closed her eyes and savoured the feeling of a clear head she had gained, as something struck her mentally.

"…I don't want to go home." She muttered. Looking around to make sure nobody had heard her speak to herself, she continued in her head. 'Going home is the worst thing to do… It's the first place anybody would think of looking to see if I was there… No… I need to keep on moving, but… If I do that, I need to defend myself…' She continued to weigh up the positives and negatives of returning to the Gym in Cerulean City for a few minutes, until Pikachu surprised her with his presence.

"Pikachu-pi!" He cried happily as he prodded her arm.

"Oh, morning Pikachu! Is Ash awake too?"

"I sure am, and don't sound so surprised." Ash said as he approached her, scratching his head and pulling his red and white cap on.

"Oh, I thought I was the first awake… Are you alright, Ash?" She asked as he gestured for Pikachu to keep Togepi occupied. He nodded, before sitting on the dewy grass beside Misty.

"As okay as I can be on the morning of my friend leaving…" He replied, sounding slightly down.

"About that…" Misty started, catching Ash's attention. "I'm having second thoughts this morning…" She said, causing him to look up.

"Really? Do you think you're gonna stay after all?"

"I'm not having second thoughts in that sense…" Misty said carefully, knowing it was going to upset Ash again. "I'm having second thoughts about going home, instead, I'm thinking about possibly travelling alone."

"Misty, you can't do that!" Ash exclaimed, before quietening down and continuing in a more hushed tone. "You're just leaving yourself open to being attacked."

"I know, but it's better than just being a sitting duck. I could become a challenging Pokémon trainer like you and build up a strong team for self-defence. At least that way I will be constantly moving around, and won't be in the same location for long." Misty reasoned. Ash remained silent for a few moments, as if contemplating Misty's words before speaking up again.

"…I'm still not happy with it, Mist." He paused. "I'm just… unhappy at the thought of you going alone. What if you get hurt? I… I'm just scared of something happening to you." He finished, looking away from Misty.

"Ash… I'm going to be really careful, you can trust me. I'm going to be trying to keep a low profile, remember?" She reassured.

---

As the group were finishing up their breakfasts following Brock's awakening, Misty and Ash were poring over the Johto map for different reasons. Misty was estimating the distance from their position to New Bark Town, while Ash was looking to see where exactly they had to go to get to the Silver Convention, having found a short cut through the mountain range splitting Kanto from Johto.

"Hmm… Judging from the map, I have about three to four hours of walking before I reach New Bark Town. That means I could be there for mid afternoon if I leave soon." She mused, making Ash look up from the map and look to her sadly.

"Well, as much as we want you to stay, the sooner you leave, the better." Brock mentioned. Misty and Ash both nodded in response as Brock took their plates from them. "…Remind me to make sure we set up camp next to some water next time," He commented as he looked at the dirty plates. Ash looked up to Brock and frowned at the sudden subject change. "…Sorry. So, I take it we're pretty much ready to set off, then?" Misty sighed and nodded.

"I'm ready to set off. Are you two heading off the route and through the mountains, then?" She asked, receiving a nod from Ash.

"There'll be more challenges to get us ready for the convention that way." He replied, to which Misty again nodded.

"Okay… Togepi, it's time you said bye-bye to Pikachu. You won't be seeing him for a while…" She said to her egg Pokémon, who then went over to Pikachu to say its farewells.

"How are we going to stay in touch when you're gone? We don't really know where you're going to be going, so we can't leave messages for you…" Ash asked as Misty ensured she'd packed everything into her red shoulder bag.

"I'm hoping to pick up a Pokégear in Cherrygrove City, so that you can get in touch with me wherever I am." She mentioned, having thought about this problem previously.

"Hey, we could buy one of those at the convention, Ash." Brock added, to which Ash nodded. As Ash was about to speak, Togepi began to wail. Pikachu tried comforting it by pulling a series of funny faces, but nothing would quell it's crying. Misty sighed and picked the baby Pokémon up and rocked it in her arms.

"Hush… Togepi, calm down… You can see Pikachu again soon," She reasoned with Togepi. She then turned to Brock and Ash again and sighed. "I think this is my cue to leave…"

"Yeah… it may calm Togepi down if you take it to see new things," Ash suggested.

"Mmm…" Misty replied, looking to the ground. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then straightened up and swung her bag onto her left shoulder. She looked from Ash to Brock.

"Pikachu pika chu pi, kachu pikachu-pi!" Pikachu said in a sad tone. Misty looked down to him, then to Ash.

"Ash, I didn't quite…"

"He's saying to be careful so he can see you soon, Mist," Ash translated.

"Aww…" Misty crouched down and scratched Pikachu's ear. "I'll be careful, and I'll see you again very soon. Look after Ash for me, we both know he needs somebody…"

"Pika! Pikapi chu pikachu-pi!" Pikachu responded with a wink.

"Pikachu!!" Ash shouted, blushing slightly. Misty cocked her head up to Ash questioningly.

"What did he say?" She asked, looking back to Pikachu who was now making pointing gestures at Misty, then at Ash to try to illustrate his point.

"…He said that I need you…" He said, as Pikachu began to cackle. "Pikachu, it's not true and it's not funny!" Misty blushed slightly, and laughed briefly.

'Nice try, Pikachu… Okay, time to go.' She thought.

"Brock, thanks for being such a brilliant cook for all this time. I don't like to think about what it would be like if I cooked as often as you…" She laughed as she recalled the time Brock was ill and she was left to cook for them.

"I'm only making sure we all stay healthy… don't think of it." He said, before stepping up and patting her on the shoulder. "Good luck. You're a strong girl; we know that you can win your own battles, but it doesn't mean you won't be missed." He said. She nodded, smiling sadly, and then turned to Ash.

"Ash…" She started.

"I know, I'm a twerp at times. No need to say…" He cut in.

"I wasn't going to say such a thing." She smirked. "I was going to say that you just need to keep Brock in check around girls." At this, Brock frowned as Ash laughed.

"Yeah, I guess…" He trailed off, and looked away for a moment. "…Here, I want you to take this." He said as he pulled his red and white cap from his head. Misty gasped.

"I can't take that Ash, it means too much to you." She dismissed. Ash shook his head and thrust it in front of her.

"Take it, Mist. Something to remember me by." He reiterated.

"Ash, I…" She paused, lost for words. "Thank you!" She eventually exclaimed, handing Togepi to Brock for the time being and taking it from his hands and wrapping her arms around him. Ash blinked and froze, completely unsure as to what he should do, as Brock motioned frantically for him to hug her back. He nervously moved his arms to hug the now tearful Misty, and rubbed her back comfortingly, albeit awkwardly. After a few moments, Misty pulled away and smiled gratefully, her cheeks tinted from blushing.

"I'm going to miss you," Misty said sadly as she looked from Ash to his cap. Ash nodded, as Misty took the band out of her hair, shook it loose so her shoulder length hair would hang, and donned the Pokémon League Expo cap with a smile.

"We'll miss you too, Mist… I need you to promise me one thing though," Ash said to Misty, staring her directly in the eye.

"What's that?" Misty asked as she adjusted the cap.

"Come to the Silver Convention to cheer me on," Misty returned Ash's glance along with a smile.

"I promise," She said. "And when I get a Pokégear, I'll call the convention's Pokémon Centre to leave a contact number for you." Ash nodded and kept his glance fixed on Misty.

"Well, you better go…" He said after a few moments' silence. She nodded, before hugging Ash one more time.

"I'll see you in the league, Ashy boy." She said as she pulled away for the last time. She took the now calm Togepi back from Brock, and smiled to them. "Don't miss me too much." She said with a chuckle, before turning to walk away.

"Pikapi chu pichu pi!!" Pikachu called, only for Ash to reply with a very quick "No I do not!". Misty sighed, and continued to walk down the slope, to the edge of the ledge, walking to the far side of it where the drop was broken up into several stages. As she jumped down them and reached the bottom, Ash ran to the ledge and shouted.

"Bye, Misty!" He waved. She looked up and waved back with a weak smile, before walking on, Ash looking on until she disappeared into a wooded area and out of sight, edging closer to New Bark Town.

---

Thanks for reading, and I hope you take the few moments it takes to review to tell me what you think.

The next chapter should be along fairly soon.


End file.
